There were few things Kad hated more than dividing his forces, especially considering how limited they usually were. The situation however was against him, they had a wounded civilian on their hands and three more potentially stuck in the wilderness. With some reluctance the order had been given to let Zex escort his patient back to town with the aid of Applejack. While this was underway the remaining three, Arkanna, Kad and the native Rarity, would press on to locate the remainder of these ponies and escort them back to town as well. All in all it sounded like a fairly simple and routine plan, provided they didn’t cross paths with anymore hydras or any other monster that called this planet home. Then why was Kad’s stomach a ball of ice?

Something was still setting off warning signals for Kad but as always the force was less than forthcoming with whatever it might be trying to tell him. How did those weirdoes in the Jedi order put up with this stuff or even understand it? He managed to push it to the back of his mind writing it off as just being uneasy with his team split up.

“Miss Rarity,” He hoped conversation would give him something else to think about, “I gotta say I’m impressed with how well you and your friend are takin’ the whole ‘life on other planets’ thing. I would’a expected it to be a rather world-shatterin’ revelation.”

The unicorn trotting alongside him smiled warmly up at him, “Well, you and your comrades are very strange and I will not pretend to understand any of this. However you all seem to be well-mannered enough.”

Kad forced a smile as his thoughts drifted to the rest of his team and how her opinion of them would be more or less dashed after meeting them, “Oh yes, we’re quite the gentlemanly crew… That’s for sure.” He said as he traced the scars along his chin.

This brief interlude was quickly broken by the sound of blaster fire far ahead of them. On instinct Kad and Arkanna immediately got low and readied their weapons. Kad quickly slipped on his helmet and put himself between Rarity and the direction the sound came from.

“Report,” Kad kept the hilt of his saber gripped tightly in his hand, holding off on igniting the blade to keep their position from being exposed.

Arkanna scanned the area from behind the sights of his carbine while hugging the side of a tree, “Doesn’t look like we’re the targets sir.”

“Advance, low and quiet,” Kad ordered with a motion of his hand. His attention shifted to the shocked looking unicorn behind him, “Stay close quiet and low to the ground. If things get too heated you run and hide.”

She nodded slowly as her eyes darted between the two Mandalorians. There were no more words between any of them as they slowly crept through the underbrush. Time seemed to stretch as they made the advance - the chronometer had barely ticked away, yet it felt like hours had passed.

Arkanna stopped his advance near the edge of the clearing they had made a forced landing in just the other day, “Voices up ahead,” He spoke in a hushed tone over the comlink.

“I said shut up!” The voice was male and from the sound of it very agitated.

As the clearing came into view they found the source of the voices and the blaster fire. Five humanoid figures wearing armor not unlike the Mandalorians, the key difference was the uniform look. Each of them was clad in black and blue armor, carried the same weapons and bore a bright red W etched into their shoulder armor.

Two of these soldiers stood guard over a pair of ponies that Kad and Arkanna had come to know as a pegasus and a unicorn. The unicorn’s coat was a shade of violet, her mane and tail was dark purple with a streak of pink and lighter shade of purple. The pegasi had a light golden hued coat, her long pink tail and mane looked to be fairly well taken care of. The two of them cowered under the blaster muzzles aimed at their heads.

At the center one of the troopers had his boot’s heel firmly placed on the back of a bright pink earth pony with rather unruly curled pink tail and mane. The muzzle of his blaster rifle was pressed tightly to the back of her head, “One more stinking peep out of you, one more damn song and I will vape that puff ball you call a head!” Her captor snarled.

A terrified gasp nearly escaped Rarity’s mouth before Kad’s hand moved in front it to muffle the sound, “Put your head down and cover your eyes and ears as tightly as you can.” He whispered into her ear. Nodding in compliance the unicorn hugged the ground covering her head and pinning her ears against her head.

Kad took a cylindrical device from his belt. Through the ocular controls of his HUD he sent his comrade a signal to standby which was immediately answered with a signal of compliance.

“Come on Grey, you’ve already scared the osik out of them,” One of the troopers chimed in as he watched the scene unfold, “The Commander told us not to engage the locals unless necessary.”

The trooper known as Grey merely chuckled as he pushed his blaster closer to the back of the pink pony’s head, “Who’s going to care if we put down a couple of the primitives?”

A snapping twig brought the attention of the soldiers to the edge of the clearing raising their weapons. As they did they were met with a bright white light and ear shattering pop. Grey’s world became a hazy blur as panic overtook the clearing.

In the confusion Kad and Arkanna sprang from the tree line. The two closest to them were quickly set upon by Kad, his saber burning through the mass produced armor of their chest plates. The two standing guard over the unicorn and pegasus were met with a hail of blaster fire. From the corner of his eye Arkanna caught sight of the last trooper standing and armed, sending a volley of blaster fire in his direction. The panicked pony under his target’s feet throwing him off balance, just barely missing but destroying the blaster rifle in his hands.

Grey found himself tumbling through the haze around him his ears ringing loudly muffling the sounds of blaster fire around him. The smell of ozone filled his nostrils as he felt the weapon he was holding fly from his grip. In a hurry his hand quickly searched around as he tried to right himself quickly gripping something that wasn’t grass, something long and soft.

Epsilon’s advance was quickly halted as the last remaining trooper pulled the golden pegasus by her hair and brought the frightened creature closely to his chest between himself and his attackers. Her legs kicked helplessly at the air just as a blade sprang from his gauntlet and pressed against her neck, “That’s far enough!”

“Fluttershy!” Rarity gasped in shock. She had entered the clearing as the sounds of fighting died down to corral her friends.

Kad and Arkanna kept their weapons leveled with Grey as he scrambled to his feet holding Fluttershy tightly against himself. She could feel the sharpness through her fur as it begged to draw blood. Frozen by fear her eyes silently begged her would-be saviors for help as they kept their distance.

“Let’er go.” Kad ordered as he took a step forward.

“Not a step closer, Jedi!” Grey yelled as his blade drew a few droplets of blood from his hostage.

That word always got deep under his skin, “I’m no Jedi…”

“Both of you, disarm now, or I’m staining her coat from the ne-“ Grey’s words were cut short as a blaster bolt cut a path through the air. Smashing through the visor of his helmet and piercing through his right eye denting the back of his helmet outward. His body crumpled to the ground as his arms became dead weight around his terrified hostage.

“Nice shootin’ rookie.” Kad stated with approval.

“Not really sir, I was aiming for between his eyes.” Arkanna admitted as he moved to free the trembling pegasus from the dead man’s grasp, “You alright ma’am?” He asked softly as he knelt down to examine her closely, “You’re going to be okay, we’re with the Mandalorian Protectors. You’re safe now.”

She stared up at him wordless and still gripped by shock with a small red line on the side of her neck. In a sudden shift of emotion Fluttershy wrapped her forelegs around Arkanna and buried her face against his shoulder and wept uncontrollably.

Arkanna put his hands up in surprise as he looked to Kad for answers, “Uhm… sir?”

Kad patted the young Mandalorian on the shoulder with a chuckle, “She’s a cute one rookie.”

Arkanna awkwardly looked between Kad and Fluttershy before patting the teary eyed mare’s back, “There, there...”

The journey from the forest into town had thankfully been uneventful for the Mandalorian medic and his charges. With Applejack’s help and directions they were able to bypass the major thoroughfares of Ponyville and reach the clinic unnoticed. Applejack had protested Zex’s decision wanting to get her friend to the nurses as quickly as possible. A concern he could understand but the less onlookers and gawkers that saw him the better. With the clinic’s placement on the far edge of town it wasn’t a hard feat.

As they came to a stop near the entrance Applejack looked him over for a moment, “Maybe Ah’d best go prep ‘em afor y’all head in.”

“I wouldn’t worry about it. We medical professionals have a sort of universal language.” Zex stated in a calm casual tone before forcing the door open with Rainbow’s stretcher in hand, “Nurses, I have wounded here!”

It had been a quiet afternoon at the Ponyville clinic until the bipedal creature in full armor burst into the main lobby with an injured pegasus in tow. Both nurse ponies shared a shocked and confused look for a brief moment but were able to quickly regain their composure and take action, “What happened to her?” Tenderheart asked they moved Rainbow to an empty gurney.

“She picked a fight with a hydra,” Zex felt in his element as he and the pair of nurse ponies moved her quickly to an examination room, “Lacerations on her hind legs, sutures are in place and holding. Left wing may be sprained, so I took the liberty of splinting it, to be safe. She suffered a blow to her head when she hit the ground but the swelling appears to be going down. I suspect she may have bruised several ribs in the exchange however without more knowledge on your species physiology I can’t say for certain until she wakes up.” He was able to divulge all this information in what seemed like a single breath much to the surprise of the farm pony he came in with.

“Thank you sir, we’ll take things from here.” Tenderheart stated calmly as the two nurse ponies set about taking care of Rainbow Dash.

With a smirk beneath his helmet Zex glance over at Applejack who looked more than a little surprised at how smoothly that went over, “I told you, the universal language of “Oh shit someone’s hurt,” we all speak it.” He casually stated as he tapped the red-cross etched onto his pauldron.

Commander Davian Teth strode through the halls of the fast attack frigate Skira alongside him an Ensing read off the information on his datapad, “We’ve identified the ship sir, the uhm, the Cheatin’ Whore. The vessel is registered to Kad Skriata.”

Teth raised his eyebrow at this information, “The same Kad Skirata from the Geonosis incident?”

The fresh faced Ensing double checked his information, “Aye sir, Captain Kad Skirata of the special forces branch of the Mandalorian Neo Protectors and commanding officer of Epsilon Squad.”

“We’ll deal with the mad beasts of Epsilon when the time comes,” Teth stated flatly as they entered the hanger bay, “Has my shuttle been prepped?”

“Yes sir.” Came the swift answer, “Your personal guard is already onboard and the pilot is awaiting your orders sir.”

The shuttle craft’s descent through the atmosphere was a smooth one. Teth mused at how this lovely little blue and green orb would make a wonderful hidden base for the Death Watch. Deep enough inside Mandalorian space that they could strike at their enemies yet remain completely under their noses. Making his way to the cockpit he treated a far more impressive view of the virtually untouched world below them, “Pilot, set us down there.” He drew his man’s attention to a regal looking city settled into the side of a mountain.

“Sir, are you sure about this?” A hint of unease was easily detected in the pilot’s voice.

“We’re looking for the people in charge, pilot,” He brought up a holographic readout of the city, “This city’s absolute opulence screams nobility.” Teth reassured him with a pat on the shoulder.

The roar of the shuttle’s engines split the normally peaceful air around the city of Canterlot. Its citizens brought to a frightened stand still as this metallic monstrosity decended from the sky and landed in the center of the city. Upon touchdown the entrance ramp to the belly of the ship lowered to the ground. Six Death Watch troopers exited the ship weapons firmly in hand as they lined up in two columns on either side of the ramp. Teth strode from the ship with his head held high as he scanned the growing crowd of ponies from behind his full helmet.

They were like nothing Teth had ever seen before and would have easily mistaken them for some kind of animals had they not been muttering amongst themselves in frightened tones. Slipping his helmet off he looked from one pair of uneasy eyes to the next, “Citizens, my name is Commander Davian Teth.” His voice was loud and full of authority, “I represent the Mandalorian Neo Protectors. I have come to your planet chasing a crew of dangerous fugitives. I seek an audience with your leaders.” It sickened him to claim himself a member of that filth the Neo Protectors, but the guise of their banner may make things easier for him during his search.